The Heir To The Throne
by wynnie the pooh
Summary: Chase Hodgins is the heir to a large corporation; namely, the Cantilever Group.


_Disclaimer: I do not own Bones. I do, however, own the names of Hodgins and Angie's kids, Chase, Dahlia and Kieryn._

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The Heir To The Throne**

Hi. My name is Chase. Chase Hodgins. I'm twenty-two years old. And I'm hoping I might just be able to persuade my dad to let me be a business man.

It's not a very good chance. Dahlia thinks I'm stupid. She's always been dad's little girl, and she knows better than any of us - well, except maybe mom - that he hates the family business. If anything, he would want us to follow science. That's what Dad loves.

But for me, science is just... not what I want to do. As Grandpa Billy told me, a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do, and even though he wasn't talking about life in general, I still took it that way. I guess I was trying to bury what it really meant.

I tend to do that. Bury things down, I mean. Kieryn - my brother - is always sharing his feelings, especially with mom. They're always "chatting" as Dahlia puts it, and mom always has lots to tell him about girls. When I was seventeen, and he was fifteen, Dahlia and I decided he must have been gay, just because of his openness, but apparently not. Apparently, he'd had a steady girlfriend since he was thirteen.

If Dahlia was dad's girl, and Kieryn was mom's boy, I guess I had to be grandpa's. I didn't really get along with Dad, except when he took me to soccer games. I got along with him fine, until Dahlia came along, but she was just so much better than me, at least in what dad wanted. So hey, I got pushed aside. And then, mom was doing the whole... mothering thing... with baby Dahl and I just got ignored a little. But Grandpa Billy was good to me. He'd pick me up for the day, take me to his hotel room where he'd have all his guitars lined up. I never played guitar, and I never wanted to, but he made me feel included. He talked to me like I was grown up, but he never gave me a responsibility. And he always called me 'man'. I was barely five, but he called me 'man'. Sometimes it was 'little man', sometimes it was 'big man' but it was always 'man'.

But Grandpa Billy wasn't in town to be on my side right now. He wouldn't help me even if I asked. He always told me I had to stand up for myself, and helping me out wasn't going to do that.

So instead, I drove up to mom and dad's house, my hands shaking slightly.

Kieryn was home for the weekend. Kieryn was always home for the weekend. He considered himself a writer, and somehow that meant he didn't have to go to college. He got himself a job straight out of high school at one of the local newspapers, and he was happy with his average wage and the people he worked with.

Dahlia was also home, for the first week in months. She travels a lot, my sister, and I don't even know if she works when she travels. Maybe the odd job here and there, but not anything steady. She moves about too much. And then she comes back home, asks dad for a couple of grand for a plane ticket to Italy, and off she goes again.

I didn't know if it was a blessing or a curse that all my siblings were home for the day that I was going to confront my father. It might have been a blessing in that Dahlia can always ask dad for me - but no. I wouldn't do that. I can't do that. I need to do that for myself.

I walked up the steps to the front door, pausing to take a deep breath before turning my key in the lock and stepping inside. "Anyone home?" I called out, even though I knew for a fact that every member of my immediate family was somewhere on the premises.

"Chase ?" Mom called out, coming out of the den to greet me. She wrapped me in a warm hug, looking me up and down. Mom was like that. She always wanted to be sure everyone was eating enough and staying healthy. She was also obsessed with our love lives. "How's Imogen?"

"Mom, Imogen and I broke up a month ago."

"Oh, good. I didn't really like her. Your brother met a girl yesterday. Maybe she has a sister."

I didn't comment on the fast pace my brother took with relationships. Instead, I sighed and pushed mom off me. "Mom, I'm here to talk to dad."

"Oh, well at least come and have some of this cake that I'm going to say Dahlia and I made."

"Who really made it?" I asked. She gave a sheepish grin.

"Bren. As if I could successfully bake a cake! You know what happened the last time I touched an oven."

I did. Trust me, my mom and ovens don't go together. That would be why dad did the cooking while she drank the alcohol.

She led me into the kitchen and cut me a slice of cake. Dahlia was sitting on the bench swinging her legs and sipping at a can of coke.

"Hey, Chase!" she said enthusiastically. Her hand moved side to side in a bright wave. Dahl had always been full of enthusiasm; too much energy to keep inside her.

I bit into my cake. It was really good. Carrot cake, with a cream cheese icing. Mom's best friend Brennan was really good at baking cakes.

For a second I was distracted, but the stumbling lope of Kieryn entering the room, followed by dad quickly brought me back to reality.

"Hey, Chase," Kieryn mumbled nonchalantly, grabbing the remaining cake from my mouth and swallowing it in one mouthful. Sometimes I wondered how he managed to boss me around like I wasn't the oldest.

"Hi, Chase," Dad said, cutting himself a slice of the cake. "Didn't expect to see you here this weekend."

"Yeah, well I had some things I wanted to discuss."

I could see the wheels ticking over in my dad's head. I just hoped they were ticking in my favour.

"What about?"

"About business."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean..."

I know it doesn't seem like it, but ever since I was little I wanted to run the corporation that I would one day own. Dad told me about my claim to ownership when I was about seven, in the hopes that I would be like him and despise it. But from that day on I wanted to run the Cantilever Group.

The only problem with that is that I like to please. So instead of getting summer jobs at the corporation like I wanted to, I worked at a local cafe making coffees (shit job by the way). Instead of majoring in business management in college, I majored in law (shit course by the way).

But now? Now I was sick of it. I didn't care anymore what anyone else thought. I wanted to run the Cantilever Group, and I was going to. I hoped.

"I mean, I want to manage the Cantilever Group."

I watched as Dahlia's jaw dropped. Kieryn was choking on his cake and mom had a small smile on her face.

"I thought you wanted to do law, Chase?"

"Not really. It's really boring. And public speaking is really not my thing."

"Did you hear that, Ange?" Dad said, his tone laughing. He wasn't going to be all mean and sadistic was he? He wrapped an arm around moms shoulder and turned to me. "How much do you want a week?"

I was shocked. Seriously. No cliches here or anything. Okay, maybe a little bit cliche. "What?" I asked.

"I've been looking for a new manager. And you're good at that kind of stuff."

"Are you seriously hiring me?"

He laughed. "It's nepetism, baby. I've always been pro for it."

And I had to laugh, but more from sheer joy than amusement. I had wanted this job so badly, and I had thought that I would never be able to persuade my father. And then, it was so easy. All I had to do was ask. I suddenly felt kind of stupid, like I should have asked a lot earlier.

"Are you going to take the job or what, Chase?" Dad asked me, and I shook my head, trying to clear my thoughts.

"Um... yeah. Yeah, thanks."

Mom's smile had grown, and she wrapped me in a hug. I felt a bit odd, a twenty-two year old squished between his parents. But then Kieryn and Dahlia joined in and it wasn't as bad.

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Okay, so here it is. It's a little one-shot, set a long time into the future. Just an odd idea I had. Hope you enjoyed! 


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